Turkish football penalizes Bursaspor for anti-Kurdish violence

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey’s football federation on Thursday penalized Bursaspor team after racist behavior broke out against the Amedspor team from the Kurdish city of Diyarbakir during their match earlier this week.

Fans of Bursaspor football team shouted racist slogans and chants ahead of their team’s game with Amedspor on Sunday. They also threw sharp objects and bullet casings onto the pitch, and raised banners of paramilitary individuals responsible for kidnapping and killing Kurds in the 1990s.

Bursaspor players and team personnel also physically attacked Amedspor players before and after the match.

The Turkish Football Federation announced that Bursaspor must play their next nine home matches behind closed doors, without their fans in attendance. The team has six more home matches remaining in the TFF Second League season, meaning that the penalty will continue to their first three matches at home next season.

The team was also fined 286,000 Turkish lira (over $15,000). An additional 40,000 lira ($2,000) fine was handed down against the team for failing to keep the stadium stairwells empty during the match.

Two Bursaspor club officers were suspended for 90 days as well.

Bursaspor criticized the decision in an Instagram post, claiming that the punishment was unfair and compared it to an earlier incident when Amedspor was similarly penalized but only received a ban of two matches.

"This punishment was not given to us, but to the patriotic supporters of all teams that came together under one roof," said the Turkish team in a tweet.

In September, Amedspor fans raised the Kurdistan flag during a match against Bursaspor. In addition to the two match ban, five people were detained, though they were later released.

Amedspor has been embroiled in several controversies since 2015 when it changed its name to reflect the Kurdish name of the city of Diyarbakir - Amed.